This was another great and historic fall season for Cal Men's Tennis. This was one of the busiest fall seasons we have ever had in Cal Tennis, but it allowed all of our players the opportunity to play in multiple tournaments and gain valuable match play experience for the upcoming spring season.

In this edition of the Cal Men's Tennis Newsletter we will recap the results of the McLachlan brothers at the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, explore our upcoming trip to New Zealand, look at an academic recognition from the NCAA, and give an upcoming look at the spring schedule.

USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships at the US Open

The McLachlan brothers (Riki and Ben) were Cal's invites from the Men's Team to the Indoor Championships as a result of their fantastic play at the ITA Regional Championships, where Ben won the singles title and teamed up with Riki to win the doubles title.

At the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships Riki and Ben started off strong on Thursday with an 8-4 win in doubles over Abid Akbar and Marius Cirstea of Idaho 8-4. The Bear brothers followed that match-up with another strong effort, besting Georgia Tech's Vikram Hundal and Juan Spir 8-6. That set the Bears up in a Quarterfinal matchup with the third seeded duo of Jarmere Jenkins and Mac Styslinger from Virginia. In singles action, Ben stayed hot on Thursday and capped off a great day for the Bears, beating Daniel Whitehead of Texas 6-2, 6-1, setting up a match against Virginia's number one seed, Alex Domijan.

On Friday, Riki and Ben began the day with their doubles matchup and got off to a slow start against Jarmere Jenkins and Mac Styslinger from Virginia, eventually falling 8-4. In Ben's singles match, he played a tightly contested first set against Domijan, but lost it in a close tie-breaker 7-6 (5). Domijan went on to win the second set 6-1, ending the Bears run at the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships.

Bears Start 2013 in New Zealand

The Men’s team starts the 2013 campaign with a trip to Queenstown, New Zealand to play a match against members of the New Zealand National Team. The trip, organized by Craig and Yuriko McLachlan (parents of Riki and Ben), and Lan Bale (Riki and Ben's coach and former Cal assistant coach), is certain to be an amazing experience. The boys will be housed by local families, giving them the true flavour of Queenstown. The team will take hikes and tours, and an added bonus is 18 hours of daylight – January is Summertime in New Zealand! The trip was made possible through the generosity of several donors, and by the team winning the Newmark Academic Award – a cash award given to the Cal team with the highest GPA. Our team has won the award three times in the last four years, and recently we received national recognition from the NCAA for our outstanding academic performance.

We depart on January 3rd and return on January 13th. If you would like more information on travel to New Zealand and possibly continuing on to the Australian Open, you can contact Soha Yamin at info@travelswithsoha.com or at (415) 933-6612.

Academic Recognition

Last week, the Cal Men's and Women's Tennis Teams were recognized by the NCAA for our never ending commitment to academics. Both teams were awarded high achievement in the last multiyear APR (Academic Progress Rates). This is the third year in a row our Men's program has been recognized by the NCAA for high academic achievement, which is awarded to teams that have posted multiyear APR scores in the top 10 percent of all teams in their sports.

Cal was one of just three men's tennis programs in the nation to achieve a top ranking in the NCAA's Academic Performance Program and finish in the top 15 in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings this past season. The Bears, who were 13th in the season's final ITA rankings, joined Ohio State (fourth) and Stanford (ninth) in the select group.

We would like to add a special thank you to our academic advisor Nick McNeil who has been with our team the past few years. He has provided outstanding leadership and aid to our players and their achievements are a product of the excellent support he provides.

Spring Schedule

We are very excited about our upcoming spring schedule, which is sure to be one of the toughest and most competitive in the NCAA this year. Along with the regular PAC-12 slate, which includes top ranked teams like USC (2012 National Champions), UCLA (#3), Stanford (#9), and Washington (#28), the Bears schedule will also feature these top ranked non-conference matches: at the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Berkeley (#38 Boise State, #33 Santa Clara, and #21 Michigan), #6 Pepperdine, #8 Duke, #18 Baylor, #65 San Diego State, and #68 UC Santa Barbara.

This has been a great fall season for the Bears and we look to continue our high level of play this spring. Thank you for all your support and your contribtutions that help our team strive for excellence - you really make a difference.